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The recent retrospective of Juliet Berto’s acting work at the Brooklyn Academy of Music presents an artist who occupied the forefront of both formal and ideological reimaginings of the medium during her lifetime. An icon of the French New Wave for her roles in landmark films by Jacques Rivette and Jean-Luc Godard, she also regularly lent her presence to works of radical leftist filmmaking from directors such as Robert Kramer and Marin Karmitz. Neige, Berto’s 1981 directorial debut made in collaboration with her partner Jean-Henri Roger, bears the influence of these artists and synthesizes them into something entirely its own, a playful and unpretentious work that nonetheless retains a fierce political anger.

The title of the film—which translates to Snow in English—refers to heroin, the drug around which much of the plot revolves. Berto stars as Anita, a bartender in Paris’s racy Pigalle district whose committed...

Jean Luc-Godard, who died Tuesday at the age of 91, was widely known as the King of the French New Wave. Since coming onto the scene in the 1960s, his seminal films such as “Breathless,” “Masculin, Feminin” and “Pierrot Le Fou,” introduced avante-garde techniques that have been since been replicated by innumerable filmmakers in the following decades.

In addition to a scathing intellectualism and stubborn stance against “the establishment”, the Franco-Swiss director was best known for changing the rules of cinema — his use of long-takes, jump-cuts and actor asides are just a few of the innovative practices he employed in his films that are still used to this day.

Thankfully, Godard left behind dozens of unforgettable films, many of which have been restored on Criterion. Below, check out some of Godard’s best films to celebrate the late director:

‘Pierrot le fou’ Courtesy of Amazon

Godard perfects the Pop Art color...

Claude Chabrol was the most prolific of the New Wave directors. He didn’t only do murder thrillers; this fine selection of Chabrols from the ten year period 1985-1994 begins with a pair of detective tales but moves on to a masterful adaptation of a great book and two engrossing experiments, one of them picking up where an earlier French master left off. The players are terrific as well: Jean Poiret, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Claude Brialy, Bernadette Lafont, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-François Balmer, Christophe Malavoy, Jean Yanne, Marie Trintignant, Jean-François Garreaud, Emmanuelle Béart, François Cluzet.

Lies and Deceit: Five Films by Claude Chabrol

Blu-ray

Cop au Vin (Poulet au vinaigre), Inspector Lavardin (Inspecteur Lavardin), Madame Bovary, Betty, Torment (L’enfer)

Arrow Video

1985-1994 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 9 hours and 17 minutes / Street Date February 22, 2022 / Available from Arrow Video (UK website) / Available from Amazon U.S. / 99.95

Common Credits:

Cinematography: Jean Rabier (3), Bernard Ziterman (2)

Production Designer:...

“Fate’s the one to blame!”

Lies and Deceit: Five Films by Claude Chabrol – a new 5-disc set will be available on Blu-ray February 22nd from Arrow Video

Too often overlooked and undervalued, Claude Chabrol was the first of the Cahiers du Cinema critics to release a feature film and would be among the most prolific. The sneaky anarchist of the French New Wave, he embraced genre as a means off lifting the lid on human nature. Nothing is sacred and nothing is certain in the films of Claude Chabrol. Anything can be corrupted, and usually will be.

Arrow Video is proud to present Lies & deceit: Five Films by Claude Chabrol. Featuring Cop Au Vin (Poulet au vinaigre), Inspector Lavardin, Madame Bovary, Betty and Torment (L’enfer), this inaugural collection of Claude Chabrol on Blu-ray brings together a wealth of passionate contributors and archival extras to shed fresh light...

Welcome to the first edition of Deadline’s International Distruptors, a feature where we’ll shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. With the Cannes Virtual Market warming up and July’s physical Cannes Film Festival looming, we’re kicking off with a deep dive into French cinematic institution MK2.

A few years ago, when brothers Nathanaël and Elisha Karmitz were re-evaluating the marketing strategy for their business MK2, they were discussing company values with their father Marin in their Paris-based office. The brothers, who have run the prominent French arthouse outfit since their father stepped down in 2005, turned to Marin and asked him what the main goal of the company was when he founded it in 1974.

Their father, says Elisha, turned to them, paused, exhaled deeply and then said: “The goal of the company is to resist destruction of the world.

Now that France’s borders are poised to open up to travelers from around Europe and the United States, there’s an intriguing new lodging option in Paris for cinephiles — and industry folk perhaps making a pit stop ahead of or after the Cannes Film Festival in July.

Hotel Paradiso, a four-star venue that bills itself as “the first cinema-hotel,” is open for business in the capital’s 12th arrondissement. An adjunct of the MK2 exhibition circuit, the hotel’s 34 rooms each boast laser projectors and giant screens (that are “bigger than the bed”). There are also two suites kitted out with private screening rooms. Soon to open are a karaoke lounge, podcast studio and an open-air cinema roof terrace. In a nod to the movies, guests must dial 007 to reach reception.

The hotel is located above MK2’s six-screen Nation multiplex and has views onto giant murals painted by...

Schrameck piloted sales on titles including ’Personal Shopper’ and ’Portrait Of A Lady On Fire’.

Juliette Schrameck has announced she has left her role as managing director of Paris-based mk2 films after a decade at the company.

“I didn’t think I would be announcing this in such a particular period but I have decided to embark on a new professional project which will begin in a few months time,” Schrameck wrote in an email sent across the film industry on Thursday (April 9).

“Thanks to all of you, I have had some marvellous and intense years sharing cinema and discovering new distribution territories,...

Juliette Schrameck, the managing director of French film group MK2 (“Portrait of a Young Lady on Fire”), has stepped down.

During Schrameck’s decade-long tenure, MK2 had five movies playing in competition at the Cannes Film Festival two years in a row, in 2018 and 2019. Last year’s competition titles included Mati Diop’s Grand Prize winner “Atlantics,” and Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Young Lady on Fire,” which picked up Cannes’ best screenplay award and a Golden Globe nomination.

Schrameck was also highly involved in the development and co-production of many prestige projects, notably Pawel Pawlikowski ‘s Oscar-nominated “Cold War.”

Before being appointed managing director by MK2’s co-ceo Nathanael Karmitz in January 2015, Schrameck spearheaded international sales and acquisitions for the company for five years.

Schrameck announced her departure from the company on Thursday and said her new career chapter will soon begin. “I didn’t think the period...

San Sebastian — Paris-based MK2 has boarded “Alcarràs,” the second feature film of Catalan auteur Carla Simón (“Summer 1993”), a leading member of a bright new generation of lauded and laurelled Catalan women directors including Neus Ballús, Belén Funes, Meritxell Colell, among others.

Currently in development, “Alcarràs” will be produced by Madrid-based production-distribution outfit Avalon– the Spanish distributors of Ruben Östlund’s “The Square,” Robin Campillo’s “120 Beats Per Minute,” and producers of “Summer 1993″ and Carlos Marques-Marcet’s “The Days to Come,” at this year’s San Sebastian Festival in its Made in Spain showcase.

Simón’s autobiographical debut “Summer 1993” snagged the Best First Film Award and the Generation Kplus Grand Prix at Berlin in 2017. The feature was Spain’s 2018 Oscars race entry, nominated for the Efa Discovery Award and won three Goyas including best new director. Carla Simón also received the Women in Motion Emerging Talent Award in Cannes in 2018.

Inspired by her own adoptive family,...

Launched just over 50 years ago by Marin Karmitz and now headed by his sons, Nathanael and Elisha, Paris-based MK2 films accomplished a double deed at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Not only does it have five movies playing in competition for the second consecutive year, it represents in international markets three of the four female-directed films competing, Mati Diop with “Atlantics,” Justine Triet’s “Sybil” and Celine Sciamma with “Portrait of a Young Lady on Fire.”

Aside from the competition, MK2 also has Monia Chokri’s “A Brother’s Love” and Danielle Lessovitz’s “Port Authority” playing in Un Certain Regard.

Nathanael Karmitz and Juliette Schrameck, the managing director of MK2, said the company was not following any quota or positive discrimination to ramp up their roster of female-directed films but were simply drawn to the originality and quality of the projects.

“Three of the four women directors in...

Varda passed away following a short battle with cancer.

Agnès Varda, the Belgian-born director whose work played a pivotal part in the French New Wave, has died aged 90.

She died shortly after being diagnosed with cancer, according to a statement from her family given to French news agency Afp. It said: ”The director and artist Agnès Varda died at home on Thursday night due to cancer, with her family and loved ones surrounding her.”

Her death comes just weeks after Varda put in a fitting final appearance at the Berlin International Film Festival with the documentary Varda By Agnès.

An extended filmed masterclass of sorts,...

Alain Resnais’ Melo (1986) will be available on Blu-ray April 9th From Arrow Academy

Master director Alain Resnais (Last Year At Marienbad) blurs the line between cinematic technique and theatrical artifice in his acclaimed Mélo, adapted from Henri Bernstein s classic play about a doomed love triangle in 1920s Paris.

Pierre and Marcel are both celebrated concert violinists and lifelong friends, in spite of their differing temperaments. Pierre is modest, sensitive and content with his lot; Marcel is hungry, driven, and pursues a solo career that takes him to the four corners of the world. After years apart, the two friends reunite when Pierre invites Marcel to his home for dinner. It is then that Marcel first meets Pierre s wife Romaine, sparking a passionate affair that can only end in tragedy before the curtain falls.

As thrillingly intimate on film as it was on the stage, Mélo s César award-winning...

Boespflug co-founded Pyramide and was managing director of Warner France.

French producer Francis Boespflug, best known as the co-founder of historic Paris-based production and distribution company Pyramide and the former managing director of Warner France, has died aged of 70.

Boespflug first became involved in cinema in his native city of Strasbourg in north-eastern France, working as a student volunteer at a cinema-club aimed at under-privileged, difficult teenagers.

It was through this volunteer work he met his future wife and life-long collaborator, the late producer Fabienne Vonier, who at the time was the manager of Le Club, the arthouse theatre founded...

MK2, the French film producer-distributor that has a record five films competing at Cannes Film Festival, is launching a raft of daring feature debuts from a predominantly female group of filmmakers.

Regrouped under the label Next, MK2 has boarded international sales on Elsa Amiel’s “Pearl,” Mati Diop’s “The Fire Next Time,” Amandine Gay’s “Speak Up,” Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel’s “Jessica Forever” and Virgil Vernier’s “Sophia Antipolis,” among others. As previously announced, MK2 is also repping Danielle Lessovitz’s “Port Authority,” Mikhael Hers’ “Amanda” and Rohena Gera’s “Sir,” which is world premiering at Critics’ Week.

“Since MK2 was founded in 1974, it’s always been a home for auteurs, such as Jia Zhangke, Pawel Pawlikowski, Xavier Dolan, Stephane Brizé and Robert Guediguian, and we’ve always aimed at showcasing films with singular perspective on the world,” said CEO Nathanael Karmitz. “This year, we’re looking...

The Festival de Cannes has announced the lineup for the official selection, including the Competition and Un Certain Regard sections, as well as special screenings, for the 71st edition of the festival:COMPETITIONEverybody Knows (Asghar Farhadi)At War (Stéphane Brizé)Dogman (Matteo Garrone)Le livre d'images (Jean-Luc Godard)Netemo Sameteo (Asako I & II) (Ryūsuke Hamaguchi)Sorry Angel (Christophe Honoré)Girls of the Sun (Eva Husson)Ash Is Purest White (Jia Zhangke)Shoplifter (Hirokazu Kore-eda)Capernaum (Nadine Labaki)Burning (Lee Chang-dong)BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee)Under the Silver Lake (David Robert Mitchell)Three Faces (Jafar Panahi)Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)Lazzaro Felice (Alice Rohrwacher)Yomeddine (A.B. Shawky)Leto (Kirill Serebrennikov)Un couteau dans le cœur (Yann Gonzalez)Ayka (Sergei Dvortsevoy)The Wild Pear Tree (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)Out Of COMPETITIONSolo: A Star Wars Story (Ron Howard)Le grand bain (Gilles Lelouch)The House That Jack Built (Lars von Trier)Un Certain REGARDGräns (Ali Abbasi...

Despite Netflix removing all of its films from the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, Orson Welles will still be represented on the Croisette next month. The festival has announced the official lineup for this year’s Cannes Classics sidebar, and included on the list is the FilmStruck-produced documentary “The Eyes of Orson Welles,” from British documentarian Mark Cousin.

Netflix had originally been set to bring Welles’ unfinished film, “The Other Side of the Wind,” to the festival’s Out of Competition section, but the streaming giant announced it would not be attending the festival in any capacity after Cannes reinstated a rule preventing films without French theatrical distribution from competing for the Palme d’Or. The rule would not have affected “The Other Side of the Wind,” but Netflix wasn’t going to make an exception.

“The Eyes of Orson Welles” includes access to a lifetime of private drawings and paintings by Welles,...

Orson Welles will be featured at next month’s Cannes Film Festival. It still won’t be via his previously unfinished The Other Side Of The Wind, which recently got caught in the scrum between the festival and Netflix. Rather, Welles will be represented in The Eyes Of Orson Welles, a new documentary from Mark Cousins that’s part of the Cannes Classics selection.

The festival today unveiled its full roster for the Classics sidebar which includes tributes and documentaries about film and filmmakers, and restorations presented by producers, distributors, foundations, cinemathèques and rights holders. Among the attendees this year are Martin Scorsese, Jane Fonda, Christopher Nolan and John Travolta.

The Eyes Of Orson Welles is a journey through the filmmaker’s visual process. Thanks to Welles’ daughter Beatrice, Cousins (The Story Of Film) was granted access to never-before-seen drawings, paintings and early works that form a sketchbook from his life.

Cines Dreams Palacio de Hielo drew 930,000 spectators in 2016.

French film company MK2 has acquired the Cines Dreams Palacio de Hielo in the Spanish capital of Madrid, making it the third biggest exhibitor in the country.

MK2 said in a statement that the 15-screen, 4,200 seat multiplex registered 930,000 entries in 2016, making it the most frequented theatre in Madrid.

The deal was brokered under the supervision of the Spanish law firm Perez-Llorca.

MK2 said the deal made its Spanish circuit the third biggest in the country and the leading circuit in the southern region of Andalusia. It now has 10 cinema theatres with 128 screens, welcoming around five million spectators a year.

The Paris-based company - founded by Marin Karmitz in 1974 and now led by his son Nathanael Karmitz in the role of CEO - first entered the Spanish market in 2014, with the acquisition of the Cinesur chain.

Comprising nine multiplexes, with 120 screens and 22,000 seats, the chain has...

Cines Dreams Palacio de Hielo drew 930,000 spectators in 2016.

French film company MK2 has acquired the Cines Dreams Palacio de Hielo in the Spanish capital of Madrid, making it the third biggest exhibitor in the country.

MK2 said in a statement that the 15-screen, 4,200 seat multiplex registered 930,000 entries in 2016, making it the most frequented theatre in Madrid.

The deal was brokered under the supervision of the Spanish law firm Perez-Llorca.

MK2 said the deal made its Spanish circuit the third biggest in the country and the leading circuit in the southern region of Andalusia. It now has 10 cinema theatres with 128 screens, welcoming around five million spectators a year.

The Paris-based company - founded by Marin Karmitz in 1974 and now led by his son Nathanael Karmitz in the role of CEO - first entered the Spanish market in 2014, with the acquisition of the Cinesur chain.

Comprising nine multiplexes, with 120 screens and 22,000 seats, the chain has...

France’s MK2 Films has acquired all rights to the first 20 movies made by late Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, according to Variety. As part of the deal with the Institute Kanoon, MK2 Films will restore the films in 4K. The titles including 1974’s “The Traveler” and 1987’s “Where is the Friend’s Home?”

Read More: Abbas Kiarostami’s Final Film: Nine Minutes That Explain His Brilliance

“MK2 had a very close relationship with Abbas Kiarostami. We produced and distributed his films since 1999,” Marin Karmitz, MK2’s president, told Variety. “This collaboration with the Institut Kanoon will allow us to give every generation of audiences the opportunity to discover these world cinema masterpieces that have inspired and continue to inspire filmmakers and cinefiles for the last 30 years.”

Read More: The 2017 IndieWire Cannes Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During the Festival

Before his passing last year, Kiarostami was working on a film with MK2,...

Being called the French Hitchcock does Claude Chabrol a disservice, as his dark thrillers approach mystery and suspense almost completely through character, not cinematics. These three very good 1990s productions are completely different in tone and approach, and each showcases a stunning French actress.

Betty, Torment (L’enfer), The Swindle (Rien ne vas plus)

Blu-ray

3 Classic Films by Claude Chabrol

Cohen Film Collection

1992,1994,1997 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 103, 102, 105 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / 49.99

Starring Marie Trintignant, Stéphane Audran, Jean-François Garreaud, Yves Lambrecht; Emmanuelle Béart, François Cluzet, Nathalie Cardone, Dora Doll; Isabelle Huppert, Michel Serrault, François Cluzet, Jean-François Balmer.

Cinematography: Bernard Zitermann; Bernard Zitermann, Eduardo Serra

Film Editor: Monique Fardoulis (x3)

Original Music: Matthieu Chabrol (x3)

Written by Claude Chabrol from a novel by Georges Simenon; Claude Chabrol from a script by Henri-Georges Clouzot; Claude Chabrol

Produced by Marin Karmitz (x3)

Directed by Claude Chabrol (x3)

Not all Claude Chabrol films are equal, but...

New partnership includes production, distribution and exhibition.

Paris-based film company MK2 and Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s Shanghai-based Fabula Entertainment are joining forces in a new production, distribution and exhibition partnership.

Under the accord, announced in a joint statement on Monday (Sept 12), the two companies will co-develop and co-produce films as well as promote and distribute Asian cinema internationally.

MK2, which runs the innovative MK2 multiplex in Paris and has exhibition operations in Spain and Canada, will also lend its expertise to Fabula’s newly-created Open Village, a chain of cinema theatres in mainland China.

The new collaboration also envisages cooperation on the production of cutting-edge Virtual Reality (Vr) and Augmented Reality (Ar) content and the creation of Vr centres in China.

“We are very proud to continue our collaboration with Jia Zhangke on a larger scale and to actively participate in the future development of Chinese cinema as well as the promotion of the best in...

One of the most interesting collisions of the public perception of Iran’s Islamic state and its reality is how, out of an apparently repressive state hostile to the creative arts, Abbas Kiarostami became the essential free filmmaker. “Freedom” is always a relative term when it comes to cinema, which, like politics, unfortunately runs on money. But it’s easy to spot the genuinely free filmmakers when they come along. Despite their varying struggles to get their movies made, the work that results is directly personal and unbound by prevailing cultural trends and diktats. They range from Jean Vigo to Kidlat Tahimik, Pedro Costa to Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage to Jose Luis Guerin. Kiarostami was the free filmmaker par excellence, since he managed to find his ever-developing acute approach to modernism through whatever system in which he might find himself working.

Read More: Abbas Kiarostami, Palme d’Or-Winning Director Of...

Over the past two decades, Austrian auteur Michael Haneke has grown into one of the most formidable cinematic titans currently working today. Winning five awards for his six times competing at Cannes (including Palme d’Or wins in 2009 and 2012), several of his prominent early titles tend to be overlooked in broad discussions concerning the filmmaker’s continued observation of humankind’s increasing inability to communicate.

A purveyor of social maladies, usually within an isolated microcosm, Criterion’s restoration of his first French production, 2000’s Code Unknown, is a perfect opportunity to revisit a prescient example of greater cultural shifts and conflicts to come. Although contemporary audiences might be tempted to lump this early title from Haneke into a movement of cinema from this particular decade wherein interconnected vignettes became a popular format, this compilation of one shot, single-takes is beyond comparison with the glut of busy-bodied melodramas eventually running this composition tactic into the ground.

If you're reading this you're likely a fan of the Criterion Collection, which also means as much as you may be interested to know what new titles are coming to the collection in February 2015, if you aren't yet aware, Barnes & Noble is currently having their 50% of Criterion sale right now, click here for more on that. However, if you're already hip to the sale, let's have a look at the new titles that were just announced. The month will begin on February 3 with a new film from Jean-Luc Godard, his 1980 feature Every Man for Himself starring Jacques Dutronc, Nathalie Baye and Isabelle Huppert. It's a film Godard refers to as a second debut and is described as an examination of sexual relationships, in which three protagonists interact in different combinations. The release includes a new high-definition digital restoration, a short video titled Le scenario created by Godard to secure financing for the film,...

Other festival prize winners include Self Made, Red Leaves and The Decent One.

Gett, the Trial of Vivian Amsalem, by Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz [pictured], the third part of a trilogy about the painfully, never ending process of an Israeli-style divorce; and Princess, the debut picture of Tali Shalom-Ezer about a girl’s troubled rites of passage in a complicated household, shared the Haggiag Award for Best Israeli Feature at this year’s Jerusalem Film Festival.

Gett, which was first unveiled earlier in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, also won the festival’s new audience award.

Gett’s Menashe Noy collected the best actor award while young Shira Hass was crowned best actress for her performance in Princess. Princess was also recognized for best cinematography (Radek Ladzuk) and best music (Ishai Adar). Additional awards went to Self Made (best Script to Shira Geffen, best editing to Nilli Feller), with Bazi Gete’s Red Leaves picked as best first film.

Vanessa Lapa...

Directors are among the high-profile international guests at this year’s festival.

Directors Spike Jonze, Park Chan-wook, Ulrich Seidl, Chantal Akerman and actress Martina Gedeck are among the high-profile international guests due to attend the Jerusalem Film Festival.

The festival said in statement: “Despite the security situation, more than 100 distinguished international guests are on their way to Jerusalem…The Festival’s international guests have expressed their support of the non-cancellation of the Festival and are due to arrive in Jerusalem in the coming days.”

Jonze, who recently won an Academy Award for best original screenplay for his sci-fi romance Her, will give a masterclass following a screening of his Oscar-nominated fantasy comedy Being John Malkovich — which marks its 15th anniversary this year.

It is the first time Jonze, whose father was descended from a German Jewish family, has visited Israel.

Korea’s Park will also give a masterclass and participate in a panel on his country’s cinema...

Above: Leos Carax has a new short film, Gradiva, made in conjunction with the opening of Galerie Gradiva. Watch it here! Only a few hours remain to help fund Fireflies, a new film zine, on Indiegogo. They've put up a preview of their interview with Apichatpong Weerasethakul:

"Gmc: You also revisit certain techniques, for example the Pov shots from inside moving cars. One of our contributors [Vadim Rizov] wrote a lovely text about those shots, actually. What is it you so like about them?

Aw: It’s just that I really like straight angles. I don’t like angles from the diagonal, so I mostly shoot from the side or the front. And for me, the driving of the car, this direct perspective, really accentuates the frame itself. It creates a journey where you almost feel hypnotised. That’s the basic purpose of cinema, to hypnotise, and I think this direction works best.

French mini major MK2 has acquired Spain’s Cinesur cinema chain, the country’s third biggest chain.

“Our ambition is to create synergies between the two groups, notably in terms of programming and cultural events, and to export the same concepts which have made MK2’s cinemas in Paris such a success,” MK2 said in a statement. The company runs 11 cinema with a total of 65 screens in Paris as well as four high-end, private theatres.

The Cinesur cinema chain, which comprises nine multiplexes, 120 screens and 22,000 places, has sites in nearly all the major cities of southern Spain including Seville, Cordoba, Malaga and Toledo.

It was founded by Spain’s wealthy Sanchez-Ramade dynasty in 1932. The latter day Sanchez-Ramade Group, which was involved in construction and the white goods business, put the circuit on the sales block in 2011 when it hit financial problems.

UK exhibitor Cineworld made a bid for the chain in April 2011 but the deal fell through...

French mini major MK2 has acquired Spain’s Cinesur cinema chain, the country’s third biggest chain.

“Our ambition is to create synergies between the two groups, notably in terms of programming and cultural events, and to export the same concepts which have made MK2’s cinemas in Paris such a success,” MK2 said in a statement. The company runs 11 cinema with a total of 65 screens in Paris as well as four high-end, private theatres.

The Cinesur cinema chain, which comprises nine multiplexes, 120 screens and 22,000 places, has sites in nearly all the major cities of southern Spain including Seville, Cordoba, Malaga and Toledo.

It was founded by Spain’s wealthy Sanchez-Ramade dynasty in 1932. The latter day Sanchez-Ramade Group, which was involved in construction and the white goods business, put the circuit on the sales block in 2011 when it hit financial problems.

UK exhibitor Cineworld made a bid for the chain in April 2011 but the deal fell through...

Combining taste, business savvy, and enduring idealism for the role cinema can play within the broader culture, legendary producer, distributor, director and exhibitor Marin Karmitz has helped shape the course of world cinema since launching his MK2 Films in the early 1970s. Beginning his career as an assistant director to, among others, Jean-Luc Godard and Agnes Varda, Karmitz went on to become one of the most distinguished producers of his generation, with such classics as Kieslowski’s Three Colors trilogy, Jean-Luc Godard’s Every Man for Himself and Claude Chabrol’s Ceremonie to his name. But his list of producing credits only tells […]...

Combining taste, business savvy, and enduring idealism for the role cinema can play within the broader culture, legendary producer, distributor, director and exhibitor Marin Karmitz has helped shape the course of world cinema since launching his MK2 Films in the early 1970s. Beginning his career as an assistant director to, among others, Jean-Luc Godard and Agnes Varda, Karmitz went on to become one of the most distinguished producers of his generation, with such classics as Kieslowski’s Three Colors trilogy, Jean-Luc Godard’s Every Man for Himself and Claude Chabrol’s Ceremonie to his name. But his list of producing credits only tells […]...

Exclusive: Palme d’Or contender starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloë Grace Moretz sells to 20 territories.

Paris-based MK2 has closed a raft of deals on Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria, starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloë Grace Moretz, ahead of its premiere in Competition at Cannes.

The film has sold to Italy (Good Films), Benelux (De Filmfreak), Germany (Nfp), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Korea (Tcast), Portugal (Leopardo Filmes), and ex-Yugoslavia (Continental Film).

It has also been acquired for the Middle East (Falcon), Turkey (Yeni Bir) and airlines (Encore). As previously announced IFC Films has taken Us rights. Les Films du Losange will release the film in France at the end of August.

“We’re in talks on a lot of other territories, notably Latin America, Scandinavia, Russia and the UK,” said MK2’s sales chief Juliette Schrameck.

Set in the Swiss alpine lake district of Sils Maria, the picture...

I am not him wins best film in Turkish competition.

Blind [pictured] by Norway’s Eskil Vogt, the story of a married woman losing her sight and battling with the real and imaginary demons of her condition, won the Golden Tulip at the 33rd Istanbul International Film Festival. The jury — presided over by Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi and including British producer Lynda Myles from the National Film & TV School, Turkish actress Defne Halman, French director Philippe Leguay and Romanian writer/director Razvan Radulescu — added a special jury prize for Poland’s Papusza, written and directed by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze.

On the national front, Tayfun Pirselimoglou’s I am not him (Ben O Degilim) lead the field, winning the Best Film Award, also Best Script (also by Pirselimoglou) and best music (by Giorgios Komendakis), an award shared with Ali Tekbas, Serhat Bostanci and A. Imran Erin who wrote the score for Come to My Voice (Were...

Celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year, MK2 has figured prominently in the international film business since its creation in 1974 by Marin Karmitz forty years ago. Founded by Marin Karmitz and now managed by his son Nathaniel, MK2 was involved in virtually all aspects of the industry from production, distribution, international sales, restoration, and even owns and manages several arthouse movie theaters that focus on opening spaces for new voices and fresh talent from an independent background. However, today, I was sadly told by a fellow French man, MK2 no longer produces or distributes except for a few films it picks up for international licensing in order to stay in the game. Its revenues from its theaters keep it going.

MK2 does an impressive catalogue of films for distribution in territories across the globe. Among the titles in its collection are films from some of the greatest names in cinema: Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Jacques Doillon, Olivier Assayas, Abdellatif Kechiche, Charlie Chaplin, David Lynch, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Abbas Kiarostami, Gus Van Sant, Michael Haneke, and Walter Salles.

Always present at all major festivals, and often associated with the winning films, ML2 brings to the Efm a new slate of projects in many stages, from completed films to those that are still in production. Their restorations of classic films open new audiences to experience cinema of the highest quality.

Completed Films

Hotell

Directed by: Lisa Langseth

Erika is a beautiful young woman with a perfect life. Until the day it all falls apart. She starts going to group therapy and meets other people suffering from various forms of trauma. One day this eclectic group decides to take matters into its own hands and heads off together in search of a way out. They start checking into hotels – a place of complete anonymity where you can wake up as a different person.

Gerontophilia

Directed by: Bruce Labruce

18-year-old Lake has a sweet activist girlfriend, but one day discovers he has an unusual attraction for the elderly. Fate conspires to land him a summer job at a nursing home where he develops a tender relationship with Mr. Peabody. Discovering that the patients are being over-medicated to make them easier to manage, Lake decides to wean him off his

medication and help him escape, resulting in a humorous and heartfelt road trip that strengthens their bond.

Tom at the Farm

Directed by: Xavier Dolan

Tom, a young advertising copywriter, travels to the country for a funeral. There, he’s shocked to find out no one knows who he is, nor who he was to the deceased, whose brother soon sets the rules of a twisted game. In order to protect the family’s name and grieving mother, Tom now has to play the peacekeeper in a household whose obscure past bodes even greater darkness for his «trip» to the farm. Long ways, long lies…

In Post-production

Clouds of Sils Maria

Directed by: Olivier Assayas

At the peak of her international career, Maria Enders ( Juliette Binoche) is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years ago. But back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She departs with her assistant ( Kristen Stewart) to rehearse in Sils Maria; a remote region of the Alps. A young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal (Chloë Grace Moretz) is to take on the role of Sigrid, and Maria finds herself on the other side of the mirror, face to face with an ambiguously charming woman who is, in essence, an unsettling reflection of herself.

Still the Water

Directed by: Naomi Kawase

On the subtropical Japanese island of Amami, traditions about nature remain eternal. During the full-moon night of traditional dances in August, 14-year-old Kaito discovers a dead body floating in the sea. His girlfriend Kyoko will attempt to help him understand this mysterious discovery. Together, Kaito and Kyoko will learn to become adults by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life, death and love.

In Production

Argentina

Directed by: Carlos Saura

Argentina plunges us into the heart of traditional Argentine music, via a succession of choreographed tableaux retracing a history rich in métissage. With a unique approach to its mise en scene, documentary images from different regions of Argentina gracefully mixed with awe-inspiring traditional songs, performed by the greatest singers in the country. Both poetic and fascinating, Carlos Saura calls on the entire history of the country set to the tune of guitars and accordions.

Charles Chaplin: The Legend of a Century

Directed by: Frédéric Martin

On February 7th 1914, Charlie Chaplin wore for the first time the costume, the hat and the cane that made him one of the most famous movie characters in the history of cinema: the little Tramp. One hundred years later, this documentary was granted the privilege by MK2 to use extensively personal footage of Chaplin with his family and all documents, letters and personal belongings available. Archive material that count for more than 15 minutes in the 52 minutes version and up to 25 minutes in the 90 minutes version.

2K Restorations

MK2 has several restored classics to commemorate Charles Chaplin 125th Birthday and the 100th birthday of his most iconic character "The Tram". The restored films include The Kid, A Woman of Paris, The Gold Rush, The Great Dictator, among others. The company's latest batch of timeless works in HD also includes many films by French master François Truffaut, and 3 emblematic French New Wave Films by Marin Karmitz.

The Paris-based Pyramide co-founder, producer and distributor worked closely with Aki Kaurismaki, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Catherine Corsini, among others.

Veteran distributor and producer Fabienne Vonier, who co-founded Paris-based distribution and production company Pyramide, has died after a long illness. She was 66.

“Fabienne was passionate about film,” said long-term collaborator Eric Lagesse, who took over Pyramide’s distribution and international sales activities in 2008. “She was someone who was constantly on the look-out for interesting productions, directors.”

Lagesse continued: “She had done it all: exhibition, distribution and lastly production. She did everything to the full and was as demanding of herself as she was of everyone else. She was a true professional, working right up until the end.”

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Vonier supported the work of scores of directors from across the world including Finland’s Aki Kaurismaki, Canadian Denys Arcand, Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Palestinian Elia Suleiman, Egyptian [link=nm...

The Paris-based Pyramide co-founder, producer and distributor worked closely with AKi Kaurismaki, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Catherine Corsini, among others.

Veteran distributor and producer Fabienne Vonier, who co-founded Paris-based distribution and production company Pyramide, has died after a long illness. She was 66.

“Fabienne was passionate about film,” said long-term collaborator Eric Lagesse, who took over Pyramide’s distribution and international sales activities in 2008. “She was someone who was constantly on the look-out for interesting productions, directors.”

Lagesse continued: “She had done it all: exhibition, distribution and lastly production. She did everything to the full and was as demanding of herself as she was of everyone else. She was a true professional, working right up until the end.”

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Vonier supported the work of scores of directors from across the world including Finland’s Aki Kaurismaki, Canadian Denys Arcand, Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Palestinian Elia Suleiman, Egyptian [link=nm...

MK2 is one of France’s most prestigious and long-standing international sales agent, distributor, producer of international art films and exhibitor with an arthouse theater in Paris which set a high standard of what an art house theater should be. Next time I’m in Paris I will go and check it out again. Launched by Marin Karmitz, the company is now run by his son Nathanaël Karmitz. Here is their Cannes line-up which includes A Touch of Sin in the Main Competition and A Strange Course of Events in the Quinzaine (Directors Fortnight).

No time for my Year End Roundup or even my Havana Film Festival Report because I am busy with writing a Report -For-Pay of the 1,000 Top Filmmakers, Location Managers and Influencers Worldwide for a particularly smart country’s film commissioner and I must deliver it by the year’s end.

As I compile it, I am struck by the names of the film companies I am looking at. German names are mundane and Irish are imaginative. I know the U.S. names so well that in contrast, the French names are so evocative.

Naming companies after their owners and the well known studio names are normal and mundane. Personal meaning names like Lava Bear or Wild West Picture Show are more interesting as they bring up imaginary pictures. Weed Road of Akiva Goldsman is very evocative – do its owners smoke weed? Virgin Produced – well that’s fairly obvious I think -- once you know Richard Branson owns it, Walden Media evokes Walden Pond. Village Roadshow always sounded good but it’s old school like the majors are by now, as is New Regency of former arms dealer Arnon Milchan now partner of 20th Century Fox and others with their longstanding studio deals. In the U.S. we have so many old studio or “studio deal” companies whose early origins have been obscured by the sands of time and which no longer elicit dreams of greatness or memories of private childhood games or haunts, names like Alcon, the company founded by FedEx's Fred Smith, Leonardo di Caprio's Appian Way (recalling the old Roman road), Mark Canton's Atmosphere Entertainment, Amram Bernstein's Beacon Pictures, Rob Reiner's Castle Rock Entertainment, Spring Creek which was so evocative of Paula Weinstein when she was with Mark Rosenberg, major Columbia Pictures, Weinstein offshoot Dimension Films, Spielberg's Dreamworks, Endgame Entertainment, James Schamus and David Linde's Focus Features now Universal's arthouse arm, major Fox 2000 and Fox Searchlight, Gold Circle Films of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame, HBO – a perfect name of the time and place, HBO Latin America Group – a perfect revisionist name for the brand, Imagine Entertainment which still elicits the name of Brian Glazer ,Malpaso which still evokes Clint Eastwood, Mandalay Pictures which still recalls Peter Guber and those old Sony days of power plays, Legendary Pictures recalls Batman and Superman, Marvel Studios – the comicbook heroes, Lionsgate – gone corporate after their indie Canadian beginnings so long ago, , MGM, Moonstone, Morgan Creek Productions, Mutual Films, Myriad Pictures, New Line Cinema, New Regency, Pandemonium (we still love Bill Mechanic), Paramount Pictures, , Phoenix Pictures (we still love Mike Medavoy), Radar Pictures (Ted Fields), Red Om (Julie Roberts), Relativity Media (Ryan Cavanaugh), Revelations (hooray for Morgan Freeman), , Ritchie-Wigram, Screen Gems, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment to name a few, Tribeca Films, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros.

We have the usual names based on the company owners who are or perceive themselves to be brands in themselves like Apatow, Berlanti Prods, Bleiberg Entertainment, Blumhouse Prods. In which Jason Blum becomes horror branded, Bender Spenk, Bruce Cohen Prods., Callahan Filmworks, Chris Morgan Prods., Chuck Lorre Prods., De Line, de Passe Jones Entertainment, Di Novi, Francine Maisler & Associates, Freemantle, George Litto , Gerber, Gk Films, Hurwitz & Schlossberg Prods., , J.W. Prods., Josephson, KatzSmith, Lin Pictures, Stuber Pictures, Tdj Enterprises, Team Downey, The Weinstein Company.

There are those companies whose names evoke places like 22nd & Indiana, Arroyo Films, Broken Road Prods., Cross Creek, GreeneStreet Films, Cherry Road Films (not so new), Hyde Park , Lakeshore Entertainment (where Tom Rosenberg either lived or vacationed as a child), Langley Park, Olive Bridge Entertainment, Pearl Street, Spring Street, Barry Levinson's Baltimore, Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street, Thunder Road, Summit named after the street Patrick Wachsberger live(d) on in Beverly Hills.

The U.S. fanciful names like 3 Monkeys, Angle Films, Agregate Films, Polymorphic evoke something more private than public. Other companies evoking private signals to those who are in the know are 3 Monkeys, Aggregate Films (pretty hip for today), Angle Films, Barnstorm Pictures, Bold Films, Branded Films (a good capitalistic name for today), Captivate Entertainment, Carousel Prods., Cruel and Unusual, Everyman Pictures, Exclusive Media Group, Film 44, FilmDistrict, Global Produce, Green Hat Films, Groundswell , Gulfstream, Heyday, Illumination Entertainment, ImageMovers, Lava Bear Films – hats off to David Linde, Media Rights Capital, Mockingbird Pictures, Ninjas Runnin Wild, One Race Films, Open City (we love Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente), Original Films, Our Stories, Playtone, Polymorphic, Roserock Films, Saturn, , Atlantic Streamline, Shandaland – I love the Yiddish reference here , Strike Entertainment, Thousand Words.

For some reason, the French names sound more exotic or, if not exotic, then somehow more evocative of the unknown…Of course some are named after their owners, like Les Films d’Antoine…though even that sounds more exotic than Gk Films, Graham King’s company. There is an everyday familiarity with the U.S. that I definitely do not have with the French.

I feel a little like Proust in Names and Places, conjuring up unknown histories and deeper meanings to the French companies.

Ok, A.S.A.P. is American so that hardly counts, though it is a cool name for a film company. And Anna Lena, maybe is a person’s name. Avenue B, again is American as is Blue Monday and Local Film, though Charivari is Italian and Aurora is Latin. But the Cine names are great: Cine Nomine – what an intelligent play on words, in the name of g’d, or Cinema Defacto or Cine-Sud; all have great meaning behind them. Dharamsala is either an Indian God or food, Dolce Vita we know is a tribute to Fellini. Is Delante Films like Adelante? And Elzevir – again Proust enters with his fictionalized artist. Estrella and Gloria are names aiming for Greatness. But what is Kaleo?

La Vie est Belle gets me singing the song from South Pacific. Lazennec seems very old and venerable, aristocratic even, while Les Enrages is very 60s. Rezo is also an old and classic film company of France and Pathe and Gaumont are equivalent to our major studio names. Les Films de la Croisade – does it have a crusade as its mission? Les Films du Lendemain seems very laid back. Les Films du Poisson makes me wonder what does a fish have to do with the movies? And what is Veyrier? Les Productions Balthazar sound s great, though its founder’s name is Balthazar. And Les Films Pelleas sound grand and mythological. Mille et Une Films makes you know there are 1,001 stories to be told. Haut et Court elicits a picture which I cannot explain.

While MK2 is simply based upon the name of Marin Karmitz, I love his job title, “President du Conseil de Surveillance”, or President of the Surveillance Council, as he grants his son Nathanael his legacy.

Noodles is fun. Petit is descriptive, Sbs is boring – I thought it was a broadcaster but it’s just a name, however, the name Said Ben Said is not boring at all nor are his films, like Passion and Carnage. Sciapode is intriguing – it sounds like sci-fi and Sombrero makes me think the filmmaker leans toward the Latino. Stone Angels – English again, as is The French Connection – both conjure up images from real life fiction. Stone Angels that decorate tombs of old aristocrats; Pierre-Ange Le Pogam’s name also conjures up the Proustian Names of Old - Stone Angel the Pogam…what is a Pogam? Tempete Sous un Crane is also totally out there as a name…Storm Beneath a Crane? Maybe I don’t know French so well after all. But that is Julie Delpy’s company She’s already mostly American anyway. . I loved her last film 2 Days in New York. It would take me another lifetime to be as knowledgeable about the French as I am about the Americans. And I’m not very knowledgeable about them either nowadays. But the French names make me feel like Proust as they elicit wonderment and create stories in and of themselves.

As much as people have quibbles with (much more democratically voted-on) awards like the Oscars, the decisions by juries at film festivals tend to be even more contentious. Usually drawn from practitioners and actors, with a few other curious participants in there as well, jurors often come in with their own likes, dislikes and agendas, and in the absence of a unanimous choice, often end up settling for compromises.

Indeed, this year's Cannes Film Festival jury president Nanni Moretti said, after the awards were unveiled this past weekend, that none of the them were unanimously voted for (word is Andrea Arnold in particular was a fervent opponent of Leos Carax's "Holy Motors"). That being said, their Palme D'Or winner was a popular one: while a few critics were rooting for "Holy Motors," almost everyone was delighted that Michael Haneke's "Amour" picked up the prize (his second in four years,...

Photo by Gareth Cattermole . © 2012 Getty Images.

Sundance Selects announced today from the 2012 Cannes Film Festival that the company is acquiring all Us rights to Like Someone In Love directed and written by former Palme d’Or winner Abbas Kiarostami (Certified Copy, The Taste Of Cherry). The film is an MK2 and Eurospace Production. It stars Rin Takanashi, Tadashi Okuno and Ryo Kase. It was produced by Marin Karmitz (MK2) and Kenzo Horikoshi (Eurospace), and associate produced by Nathanael Karmitz and Charles Gillibert. Like Someone In Love made its world premiere in competition earlier in the week at the Cannes Film Festival.

In his follow-up to the stateside hit Certified Copy (which starred Juliette Binoche), Abbas Kiarostami’s returns with yet another dazzling cinematic puzzle. An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him. He thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home.

Sundance Selects has acquired U.S. rights to "Like Someone in Love," written and directed by former Palme d'Or winner Abbas Kiarostami, the company announced Sunday. The film, which made its world premiere in competition earlier this week at Cannes, stars Rin Takanashi, Tadashi Okuno and Ryo Kase. It explores the sudden relationship of a young woman and old man in Tokyo. Also read: Cannes 2012: Kristen Stewart Embraces Topless, Beatnik Role in 'On the Road' Marin Karmitz of MK2 and Kenzo Horikoshi of Eurospace produced, with associate producers Nathanael Karmitz and Charles Gillibert. Earlier,...

Cannes, France (May 27, 2012) – Sundance Selects announced today from the 2012 Cannes Film Festival that the company is acquiring all Us rights to Like Someone In Love directed and written by former Palme d’Or winner Abbas Kiarostami (Certified Copy, The Taste Of Cherry). The film is an MK2 and Eurospace Production. It stars Rin Takanashi, Tadashi Okuno and Ryo Kase. It was produced by Marin Karmitz (MK2) and Kenzo Horikoshi (Eurospace), and associate produced by Nathanael Karmitz and Charles Gillibert. Like Someone In Love made its world premiere in competition earlier in the week at the Cannes Film Festival. In his follow-up to the stateside hit Certified Copy (which starred Juliette Binoche), Abbas Kiarostami’s returns with yet another dazzling cinematic puzzle. An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him. He thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home. She offers him her body.

It’s only been a day since his latest outing, Like Someone in Love, hit Cannes to a decidedly mixed response, but Variety reports that Abbas Kiarostami is formulating his next effort, currently titled Horizontal Processes. The “tentative plans” call for shooting to commence in Apulia, Italy, next year — making this the third straight film composed outside of his former mainstay, Iran — with MK2 returning to produce.

Well, this one’s seeds were actually planted some time ago; Kiarostami has been photographing the area for four years now, being taken with the “complex architecture” that, if you ask him, serves as a suitable aesthetic compliment to “the complexity of the people who live there.” (With any luck, this will be synchronized in the cinematic medium.) That long-standing and deep-seated enthusiasm notwithstanding, producer Marin Karmitz said that “you never know” with the Iranian auteur, what with him being someone that’s...

#05. Something in the Air (Après mai) Director/Writer: Olivier AssayasProducers: MK2's Charles Gillibert (On the Road), Marin Karmitz and Nathanaël Karmitz (Summer Hours)Distributor: IFC Films The Gist: Written by Assayas, set during the 70's, Gilles (Clement Metayer), is a high school student in Paris who is swept up in the political fever of the time. Yet his real dream is to paint and make films, something that his friends and even his girlfriend cannot understand. For them, politics is everything, the political struggle all consuming. But Gilles gradually becomes more comfortable with his life choices, and learns to feel at ease in this new society...(more) Cast: Newcomer Clement Metayer and Lola Créton topline. List Worthy Reasons...: With Assayas currently on a roll with Carlos and Summer Hours, we imagine this coming-of-age project as in the vein of The Dreamers with perhaps some biographical elements embedded in...

It’s a little daunting writing about Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours Trilogy. Filmed back to back and released to universal acclaim at consecutive Venice (Blue, 1993), Berlin (White, 1994) and Cannes (Red, 1994) Film Festivals, the Polish director’s disparate trilogy has taken on a kind of legendary status, with each film recognised as a classic even if removed from the pretence of any overarching theme (nominally that each film represents a French revolutionary ideal: liberty, equality and fraternity) or strained attempt at inter-film continuity (all three stories touch on each other in ways which are arguably entirely superfluous).

Each film is entirely different, not only in terms of story but in genre, setting and mood. Blue, which stars Juliette Binoche as a widow living in the shadow of a car crash which has killed her husband and daughter, is a tragedy and deeply introverted drama about a person’s longing to...

Red faces on the jury … Derek Malcolm explains why the jury got it all wrong in the piece originally published on 26 May 1994

The 47th Cannes Film Festival is likely to be remembered not for its films, though there were some genuinely good ones around in every section, nor for its bevy of attendant Hollywood superstars, including Mel Gibson, Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis and, of course, jury president Clint Eastwood, but for a series of decisions by its international jury that seemed to defy logical analysis. This was a pity, since Eastwood, the jury's president and Catherine Deneuve, its vice-president, made a glamorous couple, feted everywhere and adored by the crowds. Nobody could say that they lacked intelligence. Unfortunately, they seemed to carry the rest of the jury - an undistinguished lot in film terms - towards some very odd conclusions indeed.

It was not just that they gave the...

Krzysztof Kieslowski's sudden death aged 54 threw the film world into shock, as reflected in this obituary and tributes originally published on 14 March 1996

The untimely death of the outstanding Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, aged 54, has dealt a huge blow to European cinema. Although he had only come into worldwide prominence in the last few years with the brilliant ten-part Dekalog, The Double Life Of Veronique and the trilogy, Three Colours Red, White and Blue, Kieslowski had been working in cinema for almost 30 years, first as a highly original and imaginative documentarist and then as a feature film director.

His late discovery by the world at large as one of the few European directors capable of measuring up to the giants of the past was both a huge chance and considerable burden for him. He took his sudden fame and good fortune with the same stoicism as the difficulties of working under Poland's communist regime.

Release Date: Nov. 15, 2011

Price: DVD $59.95, Blu-ray $79.95

Studio: Criterion

Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Blue, White and Red receive the Criterion treatment this November.

Legendary Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colors trilogy, a boldly cinematic trio of stories about love and loss, was a defining event of the art house boom of the 1990s. The films — Blue (1993), White (1993) and Red (1994) — were named for the colors of the French flag and stand for the tenets of the French Revolution: liberty, equality and fraternity. But that only hints at the film’s beauty, richness and humanity.

Set in Paris, Warsaw and Geneva, Blue, White, and Red (Kieślowski’s final film) range from tragedy to drama to comedy. They follow a group of ambiguously interconnected people experiencing profound personal disruptions.

Marked by intoxicatingly lush cinematography and memorable performances by such actors as Juliette Binoche (Chocolat), Julie Delpy (Guilty Hearts), Irène Jacob (Beyond the Clouds) and...

Bass-baritone William Shimell makes his film debut opposite Juliette Binoche in Certified Copy, the Iranian director's new movie, which will have its world premiere in Cannes

When Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy premieres at the Cannes film festival this month, all eyes will be on the director's first movie made outside his native Iran.

Just as intriguingly, though, Juliette Binoche's co-star in the movie will not be Robert de Niro – who was rumoured to have been in talks for the part – but rather, an unknown British man.

Unknown, that is, in cinema circles. William Shimell is in fact a respected opera singer, a bass-baritone who has sung at the Met, La Scala and the Royal Opera House over the course of a long and distinguished musical career.

But Shimell had never acted in a film before working on Certifed Copy. In fact, he had never acted in straight theatre of any kind.